A Decent Proposal
by XxXRachaelLAXxX
Summary: My version of 'A Decent Proposal'
1. Chapter 1

**hi. This is a story focusing on the episode where Ryder gets appendicitis (s3 e17 - A Decent Proposal). In my opinion they should have focused a bit more on Ryder. I've never done a Melissa and Joey story before. By the way I write on my phone, so apologies if it isn't presented nicely xoxoxo **

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><p>"Aunt Mel, I feel awful." Ryder said as he walked down the stairs into the kitchen.<p>

"What's wrong honey?" Mel asked, helping him sit down.

"My stomach hurts. I feel all dizzy." He said, pouring himself a glass of juice. Mel felt his forehead. It was slightly warm.

"Hang on a sec. You have a maths test today."

"Yeah but I'm not acting" Ryder argued.

"This is what you did last time, so how can I be sure you're not lying? " said Mel.

"Fine don't believe me. You'd expect that you're own aunt would believe you. I always knew that you cared for Lennox and not me." With that, Ryder stormed out.

"Ryder wait..." Mel tried to stop him but he ignored her. She shrugged it off and continued eating her toast.

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><p>Ryder felt awful. It wasn't that he felt physically sick, it was more painful. More painful than anything that he has ever experienced. He decided to get up and get a drink from the kitchen. He winced in pain as he got himself out of bed.<p>

"Ryder?" asked Lennox

"Yeah" he replied

"We need to stop Austin from proposing to aunt Mel."

"I feel awful." Ryder winced as Joe walked in.

"Joe! You need to stop Austin from proposing to aunt Mel! Go to the restaurant now!" she shouted. Ryder moaned in pain. His stomach felt like it was going to explode.

"What's up with him?" Joe asked, looking concerned.

"He has a stomach ache. He'll throw up and them he will be fine. Ryder's life is pretty simple. Now go before he proposes!" Lennox was worried about Ryder, but she was more worried about her aunt marrying the wrong man. Just then, Ryder let out a loud scream in pain.

"Joe. Ring aunt Mel. Now." said Lennox, sternly. She knew that Ryder only screamed when the pain was unbearable, and he had a very high pain tolerance.

"Ryder, I need you to sit up for me." Lennox put am arm around her brother's shoulders and slowly helped him sit up. He moaned in pain even more. "Here, lean on me." Ryder put his head onto Lennox's shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him, calming her little brother down.

"Mel's on her way home. Luckily the restaurant is less than 5 minutes away so she will be home soon." said Joe. "Where does it hurt?" he asked. Ryder pointed to his lower right abdomen. "Does it hurt when I do this?" he gently touched Ryder's stomach, causing him to yell in pain as Mel walked in.

"We have to take him to the hospital now. Lennox, help your brother to the car." Lennox threw a blanket over his shoulders and wrapped him around it and helped him to the car.

"What's up with him?" Mel asked.

"I think his appendix may have burst if not close to bursting. Now come on get into the car."

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><p>"Hang on Ryder, we are nearly there." Ryder was curled up in the back of the car. His head was on Mel's lap. She gently stroked his brown hair which helped him to calm down a little.<p>

"Come on get him out quickly. I'll go tell the reception what's happening." Joe ran over to the reception as Mel and Lennox got him out of the car and into the main waiting area, where a bed was bought over to him. Mel helped him on to it. Wrapping her arms around him, she slowly eased him into a lying down position, clutching his hand. She quickly kissed his forehead before the doctors took him away.

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><p>"What's the verdict?" Joe asked.<p>

"Well his appendix has burst but it's not too bad at the minute. If we can get him into surgery now then he should be fine. We need you to sign this form. One of you may go into that room on the right where he is going to be put under anaesthesia."

"I'll go." said Lennox and she ran in. She then saw Ryder. He was yelling in pain. She went over to him and stood by his bedside. She gently stroked his hair and then kissed his cheek.

"I'm here. Calm down. You're gonna be fine"

"We're gonna put this mask on you and then you will be asleep within seconds." The doctor put an oxygen mask over his face. Lennox rubbed his cheek with her thumb and kissed him as he fell into unconsciousness.

"I love you." Lennox whispered into Ryder's ear and walked out of the room.

Lennox sighed as she sat down next to Mel.

"He's gonna be okay Lennox, don't worry." Consoled Mel.

"I hope so. A burst appendix is very serious. We learned all about it when I took that first aid course." Explained Lennox

"The doctors know what they are doing and they said it's not too bad. He's a fighter, he's gonna be fine." said Mel. There was a part of her that felt bad for ignoring him in the morning. She didn't believe that he thought that she loved Lennox more. Maybe she was closer to her than him, but she didn't love him any less. She was deep in thought when the surgeon came up to them.

"The surgery went well. He's had a lucky escape as the infection hadn't really spread from the burst appendix. We've given him a morphine button, so he can press it when he's in pain. He will have to stay here for a week. He's gonna spend a night in the ICU and then we are gonna see how he is. He will hopefully be out of the ICU by tomorrow night." Explained the doctor.

"Can we see him?" askes Mel

"Only his legal guardian can see him until he leaves the ICU I'm afraid. He's in room 10. He's in a lot of pain at the moment so be careful."

"Joe you take Lennox home. I'll stay here." Mel said. Then, Joe and her shared a passionate kiss.

"Finally!" Cheered Lennox. "Now go see Ryder."

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><p>Mel opened the door and saw his nephew. He was sleeping calmly. He looked so innocent as he slept. He was hooked up to like 10 different monitors and had an oxygen mask on. She was shocked at how ill he really was. She sat down on the chair next to him and held his hand. She stroked his cheek gently. Slowly, his eyes opened. He groaned in pain.<p>

"Hey you're okay don't worry sweetie." Mel said quietly, kissing his forehead.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You're appendix burst and you've just had major surgery." She explained. "Look Ryder, I'm sorry for this morning. I should have taken you to a doctor when you first got ill." Mel apologized. "You know that I love you no matter what, you're my baby nephew who's 12 inches taller than me." She joked.

"Aunt Mel...my stomach is killing me." Ryder said, tears began falling from his eyes.

"Honey calm down, I'll give you some morphine to ease the pain." She pressed the morphine button. She wiped the tears off his face. Mel let out a huge yawn. It was nearly 2am and she'd been up since 6am. "You know what I'm gonna do." she said as she gently climbed into the bed next to Ryder, putting her arm around his neck. She kissed his had through his hair as she slowly eased him to sleep. She gently stroked his brown hair as he drifted to sleep.

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><p>Ryder woke up. The first thing he felt was pain. It wasn't as bad as when his appendix was inside him, but it was still unbearable.<p>

"Hey you're awake. I bought you breakfast. It's toast, you're favourite!" Mel tried to cheer Ryder up.

"Thanks aunt Mel." Mel gently lifted Ryder's head up and took the oxygen mask off his face and put it around his neck. The doctor said he would need the mask on but he had to have it around his neck whilst eating. "Open wide." She fed him his breakfast. Mel realised that she had never taken care of him this well before and felt guilty because of it. "Ryder, you know I love you right" she asked.

"I love you too aunt Mel." He replied.

"Come here 'ya big baby." She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug making sure that she didn't injure him.

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><p><strong>should I do another chapter? Hope you liked it xxx<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey. I decided to add an extra chapter and I might do another one after this. I have a few ****ideas for some Melissa and Joey stories. We need more fanfics on Melissa and Joey. I've recently had major stomach surgery and this story is slightly based on what I went through. **

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><p>"Hi Ryder. How are you this morning?" The doctor asked.<p>

"I'm better than before but it still hurts." Ryder said.

"It will be painful for a few weeks maybe but it won't be as bad as it is now. I think we can discharge you today. You made good progress so we won't keep you here any longer. I'll go do the paperwork and the nurse can tell you what do do for the first few days when you go home." Explained the doctor.

" Thanks." Mel said.

"Ryder can I see your wound?" Asked the nurse. He nodded. The nurse took the duvets off his body and began removing the plasters. The surgeons had made a cut which was about 10 inches long, from his upper right hip along to the middle of the left side of his abdomen. "It's heeling well. Keep a plaster over it for the next couple of days. He needs to shower before it is changed. So he will need to shower now." The nurse explained. "You will need to help him though."

"Yeah that's fine." replied Mel. The nurse then left. "Ryder I'm gonna sit you up." Mel helped him sit up and then helped him stand up.

"I'm all dizzy." He said, looking helpless.

"Here sit down on this wheelchair." Mel helped him sit down onto the wheelchair. Just then, Lennox walked in.

"Hey" she said, giving Ryder a quick hug.

"Good news. Ryder can go home later today." Mel said.

"Aw that's good news isn't it?" Lennox said, putting an arm around Ryder.

"I need to give him a shower first." Mel said.

"I can shower on my own." Ryder said, turning to look at Mel.

"No you can't. Lennox and I are going to help you. Lennox, get a towel from the bottom draw." Mel instructed. Mel wheeled Ryder into the shower room, which was on suite. Lennox followed them. Mel lifted the hospital gown off Ryder, keeping his boxers on.

"Lennox can you sit him down onto the shower chair?" Lennox put an arm around

"Is the water too hot?" Mel asked Ryder.

"It's fine." He replied.

"I'm gonna wash your hair first." Mel began scrubbing the boy's hair clean and them washed the shampoo out. She then rubbed some soap all over him and washed it off. "Lennox help him on to the wheelchair and take him into the room." Mel followed the two with a towel. She got Ryder dressed and dried his hair with the towel. Then she combed his brown straight hair into place. Just then, the nurse walked in.

"He's free to go. The doctor has prescribed some morphine but because it, like all drugs, is dangerous, we are going to put the morphine drip back in so he doesn't overdose it. I'm gonna look for a vein in your hand and then insert the needle." The nurse felt for a vein in Ryder's hand. She found one pretty quickly. She inserted the needle. "This bag shouldn't need to be changed as it contains enough for a week. The pain should have began to settle by then and we've prescribed codeine if it gets bad and some paracetamol if it is milder. He's not allowed any pain killers until the morphine drip comes out. We will send a nurse over when that needs to be done." With that, the nurse left.

"Come on honey, let's get you home." Mel helped Ryder to his feet and wrapped an arm around him. "You okay" she asked. He nodded. "Lennox can you get that big thing on wheels with the morphine drip on it please?" Lennox wheeled it along with one hand and held onto Ryder's arm to support him. "Take small steps to the end of this corridor and then you can go on the wheelchair. That's it. Well done sweetie." Mel encouraged him to walk. When they got to the end, Lennox and Mel helped him sit on to the wheelchair and Mel pushed the chair slowly, Lennox followed worth morphine drip and held his hand.

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><p>"Lennox open the door please." Mel said, holding Ryder's hand as he tried to walk to the door. "You okay honey" Mel asked. Ryder nodded. "Just a bit of pain."<p>

"Come on, let's get you to your room." Mel put an arm around his shoulder as he slowly walked in to the room. "Lennox, can you help him upstairs. I'll get his bags." Lennox wrapped an arm around his shoulder and held onto the morphine drip.

"Take small steps." Lennox helped him to the top of the stairs. She walked him to his room. She noticed that there was an air bed next to his bed for either Mel or Lennox so that Ryder could have someone next to him if he needed anything. "Here, sit down here for a sec okay." Lennox helped Ryder to sit down on a chair. She sorted the cushions on his bed out and got the duvet ready for him to get in.

"Lennox...what if I don't like recover." Ryder said, looking at his sister looking quite sad. That easy when Lennox actually began to feel sorry for him. He didn't deserve any of this.

"Don't worry. A lot of people have similar surgeries and they recover fully in a while. You'll be good as new soon." She did something she doesn't normally do then. She gave him a hug, putting her hand over the back of his head. "Come on, let's get you into bed." Ryder sat on his bed. Lennox lifted his legs up on to the bed. She put her arms around his shoulders. "Lean back." She eased him into a lying down position, covering him with a blanket. She put a hand on his cheek and kissed his forehead.

"Here's your stuff, Ryder." Mel came in carrying a rucksack with his things in it. "Lennox, dinner is ready downstairs. Can you bring Ryder something too?" Lennox nodded and left. The machine then began beeping. "Time for your morphine." Mel pressed the button to give him his medicine. "This'll make you feel sleepy. Are you warm enough?" Ryder nodded.

"I just feel really tired." Ryder looked like he wanted to sleep, so Mel turned the light off and sat on a chair next to him.

"If you need anything I'm here."


End file.
